Bondars among defendants in the case for enforcement of 15 million euros from Krajbanka

Martins Bondars/flickr.com.

Former parliamentarian and current member of Riga City Council Martins Bondars is among the defendants in the civil case for enforcement of EUR 15 million from seven former Latvijas Krajbanka board members.

Bondars has yet to answer questions asked by LETA.

According to available information, defendants in this case are Dzintars Pelcbergs, Martins Zalans, the bank’s former chairman Ivars Prieditis, Martins Bondars (also a former chairman), Andrejs Sumacs, Ilze Bagatska and Svetlana Ovcinnikova.

In June, the court voiced the ruling to enforce EUR 15 million from seven former Latvijas Krajbanka board members, as previously confirmed by public relations consultant Oskars Firmanis. The former board members had issued multiple loans to businesses in Seychelles Islands and Cyprus and had taken guarantees for them.

In 2015, KPMG Baltics, Latvijas Krajbanka’s administrator, submitted a claim against former bank board members to enforce losses that were caused for the bank until the commencement of its insolvency process.

Firmanis did not provide any detailed comments on the case, as it was viewed behind closed doors.

As reported by the court, the case has been submitted to Riga Regional court along with a complaint. The ruling has not been challenged as of yet.

Firmanis said the British Supreme Court declared a ruling in May 2016, finding Latvijas Krajbanka’s majority shareholder and former council member Vladimirs Antonovs guilty of causing losses for the bank. The verdict states that the bank suffered losses worth EUR 60,499,567 and USD 30,762,485 as a result of certain transactions performed by the bank.

As it is known, deficit of nearly LVL 100 million (approximately EUR 142 million) was noted in Latvijas Krajbanka at the end of 2011. In December of the same year, Latvijas Krajbanka was declared insolvent. Because of the lack of funds, the Finance and Capital Market Commission decided to halt all of the bank’s financial services.